Not applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed broadly relates to the field of pointing devices for computer input, and more particularly relates to the field of navigation over a 3-dimensional graphical user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of graphical user interfaces on computers and appliances continues to grow. There are several trends in the computer industry that have motivated the increase in graphical user interfaces. First, newer versions of operating systems and applications continues to make use of more graphical components. The xe2x80x9clook and feelxe2x80x9d of windows and windows-type operating systems has become a de facto standard. The use of windowing type operating systems such as Microsoft Windows 3.1/95/NT, IBM OS/2, Apple Copeland and others present information to a user not only in a two dimensional GUI (Graphic User Interface) but also in a third dimension sometimes called xe2x80x9cdepthxe2x80x9d by presenting one window on top of another window.
Another trend in the computer industry is the availability of sophisticated applications that present many application tools through the use of graphical icons such as tool bars, elevator bars, different document views, wizards and by other methods to present information to users. It is common for these applications to present more and more information to users that require navigating with a mouse and a keyboard not only in 2-dimensions, that is horizontally and vertically, but selecting windows, toolbars and icons presented at many different levels or depths is often required. The pointing devices available today such the mouse, the trackball, the joystick, the IBM TrackPoint, the Apple Glide Pad and other available pointing devices provide satisfactory selections in the horizontal and vertical direction, that is in the 2-dimensional space, but the selection of a graphic or a window or an icon in a 3-dimensional space with a mouse or equivalent pointing device can be cumbersome. Accordingly, a need exists for a pointing device that enables easier navigation of a GUI in not only a 2-dimensional space, but to enable easier navigation in a 2-dimensional space with depth, that is a 3-dimensional space.
Another trend in the computer industry is that the size of the computer display has remain some what constant over the last few years as the number of icons, graphics, tool bars and other graphical information. When one or more applications are opened at the same time, this leads to a clutter windows interface. To overcome this, many applications are stacked or cascaded one on-top-of-another. The increase in the amount of information presented coupled with the relative stability in the size and the resolution of the display has made navigation of the windows interface more difficult. Navigation is especially difficult when choosing applications that use the dimension of depth. Therefore a need exist to provide a pointing device to navigate 3-dimensional GUI.
Still another trend that has motivated the use of more graphics are 3-dimensional games such as DOOM, Tank Commander, and Flight Simulator. These games present a virtual 3-dimensional environment in which the user must navigate. Typically joysticks have been used most effectively for these interfaces, but the use of a joystick for general business applications such as a spreadsheet or word processor is often cumbersome. To overcome this, the user is oftentimes forced to have two pointing devices, one pointing device for games, such as a joystick, and a separate pointing device, such as a mouse, for business applications. The use of two pointing devices can be expensive, difficult to set up, and adds to desktop clutter. Accordingly, a need exists to provide a pointing device that can work effectively with games and with business applications.
Yet, still another recent development that has caused an increase in graphics is the popularity of the Internet and of the World Wide Web (xe2x80x9cWebxe2x80x9d). The Web has become immensely popular largely because of the ease of finding information and the user-friendliness of today""s browsers. A feature known as hypertext allows a user to access information from one Web page to another Web page by simply pointing with a mouse, or equivalent pointing device, at the hypertext and clicking. Another feature that makes the Web attractive is having the ability to process the information in remote Web pages without the requirement of having a specialized application program for each kind of content accessed. Thus, the same content is viewed across different platforms. Browser technology has evolved to enable the running of applications that manipulate this content across a wide variety of different platforms. The display of Web pages by browsers are often packed with information in both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional presentations. In fact the xe2x80x9clook and feelxe2x80x9d of many browsers continues to be incorporated into more and more applications and operating systems. For example, Microsoft Windows 98(trademark) has an option to display the entire user desktop as a Web page. One standard for 3-dimensional web pages is available called VRML (virtual reality mark-up language) which easily adds the ability to view standard 3-dimensional web pages over the Internet. For an example see Paragraph International. Since VRML and virtual reality environments have a new dimension of depth added to the standard 2-dimensional GUI, a need exists for a pointing device to navigate a 3-dimensional interface.
One solution to positioning a cursor in 3-D space is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,344 by Glade B. Bacon, et al., entitled a xe2x80x9c3-D Cursor Positioning Devicexe2x80x9d issued on Dec. 5, 1995. The patent discloses placing a slider or wheel along the side of a mouse. The use of a slider or wheel along the side position of a mouse makes this type of device extremely awkward to manipulate and forces the user to engage in unnatural hand movements. Moreover, many times any additional input device on the side of a mouse interferes with guiding the mouse position. Accordingly, a need exists for a positioning device to overcome this and the above limitations.
Briefly, according to the invention, an input device for entering data into an information processing system for a 3-dimensional graphical user interface. The input device includes a joystick actuator for sensing forces thereon in at least three directions. The joystick actuator is mounted on a pointing device, such as a standard two button mouse. When activated with a downward pressure, the joystick actuator produces a first signal. A software driver is configured to couple the first signal to a Z-axis on a display attached to the information processing system so as to control movement of information along the Z-axis presented on the display. During the vertical downward pressure, any horizontal pressure detected due to movement of the joystick actuator to a first position or a second position causes the software driver to change a direction and a rate of movement along the Z-axis. The rate of movement is changed as a function of the rate of change of the horizontal pressure to move the joystick actuator.